Keystone XL redux? Trump says he wants defunct oil pipeline back from the dead

A Keystone XL pipeline pumping station is surrounded by corn fields in rural Milford, Neb., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. AP/Nati Harnik

CALGARY -- U.S. President Donald Trump says he’d like to see the Keystone XL pipeline brought back from the dead, garnering an enthusiastic reception from Alberta’s premier but a tepid one from the company spun off from its erstwhile proponent.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Monday that the Biden administration had “viciously jettisoned” the pipeline expansion that would have sent more oilsands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, cutting diagonally through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska before heading south.

“The Trump administration is very different -- easy approvals, almost immediate start! If not them, perhaps another pipeline company,” he wrote.

“We want the Keystone XL Pipeline built!”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Tuesday in an X post that she agreed with Trump.

“That project should have never been cancelled. Lower fuel costs for American families is a big win,” she said.

“Let’s also scrap these inflationary tariff ideas and focus on getting shovels in the ground right away!”

A spokeswoman for South Bow Corp., the oil pipeline operator spun off from TC Energy Corp. last fall and now the owner of the existing Keystone system, said the company has “moved on” from the XL expansion project.

“We continue to engage with customers to develop options to increase Canadian oil supplies to meet growing demand,” Katie Stavinoha said in an email Tuesday.

The Keystone XL project -- a 1,900-kilometre pipeline that would have run from Hardisty, Alta., to the major U.S. crude storage hub at Cushing, Okla., and then on to Gulf Coast refineries -- was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it on environmental grounds.

It was then revived under the first Trump administration, before former president Joe Biden killed it again by revoking the pipeline’s permit on his first day in the White House in 2021.

Trump told a press conference Monday that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products are coming next week.

Trump’s executive order to implement 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports, except a 10 per cent levy on energy, was delayed until March 4 after Canada agreed to introduce new security measures at the border.

The federal government is “open to having a productive conversation” about advancing Keystone XL, the communications director for Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in an email.

“Canadians have always been a reliable energy supplier to our American friends -- but unjustified tariffs and threats against our sovereignty hurt our ability and desire to be an energy partner to our southern neighbour,” said Joanna Sivasankaran.

The Keystone XL project in its current form has all the Canadian permits it needs and the pieces north of the border remain in the ground, Sivasankaran added.

“A private sector proponent would need to step forward to advance the project, and there is not currently one expressing they would do so,” she said.

“Canada wants to see our continent become an energy-secure superpower, and the government is supportive of steps that secure positive outcomes for Canadians.”

By Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2025.